(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a hybrid vehicle (hybrid electric vehicle), and more particularly, to a method of controlling a change of a travelling mode of a hybrid vehicle, and a control apparatus thereof.
(b) Description of the Related Art
An environmentally-friendly vehicle includes a fuel cell vehicle, an electric vehicle, a plug-in electric vehicle, and a hybrid vehicle, and generally includes a motor configured to generate driving power. A hybrid vehicle, which is an example of the environmentally-friendly vehicle, uses an internal combustion engine and battery power together. In other words, the hybrid vehicle efficiently combines and uses power of the internal combustion engine and power of the motor. The hybrid vehicle may include an engine, a motor, an engine clutch that regulates power between the engine and the motor, a transmission, a differential gear, a battery, a starter-generator configured to start the engine or generate power by output of the engine, and vehicle wheels.
Further, the hybrid vehicle may include a hybrid control unit configured to operate the hybrid vehicle, an engine control unit configured to operate the engine, a motor control unit configured to operate the motor, a transmission control unit configured to operate the transmission, and a battery control unit configured to operate and manage the battery. The battery control unit may be referred to as a battery management system. The starter-generator may be referred to as an integrated starter & generator (ISG) or a hybrid starter & generator (HSG). The hybrid vehicle may be operated in a travelling mode, such as an electric vehicle (EV) mode, which is a pure electric vehicle mode using power of the motor, a hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) mode, which uses rotatory power of the engine as main power and rotatory power of the motor as auxiliary power, and a regenerative braking mode, which collects braking and inertia energy through generation by the motor and charges a battery while the vehicle brakes or travels by inertia.
The above information disclosed in this section is merely for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.